12:04am Wake Up Call
by redwolffclaw
Summary: 1.5 In Moonlighting Series:(Psych/Moonlight Crossover) After a week of unbelievable events, newly turned vampire Shawn Spencer gets a crash course in vampirism from Mick St. John, along side some unexpected friends. Set between "No Such Thing As Psychics" and "Out of the Past, and Into the Fire." NOW COMPLETE (Cover art by Dragonnan)
1. The First Day of the Rest of Eternity

**Author's Notes:**

**Here is another installment of my Psych/Moonlight crossover series called Moonlighing. It takes place after "No Such Thing As Psychics" but before "Out of the Past and Into the Fire" so it could be considered story 1.5. There are going to be elements of the TV series "Chuck" in this one too.**

**As always, you don't have to know anything about Moonlight or Chuck to get this story because it is very Psych centric.**

**I do not own Psych, Moonlight, or Chuck.**

* * *

**12:04 Wake Up Call**

** Chapter 1- The First Day of the Rest of Your Eternity**

Shawn Spencer groaned as he woke up. It had only been the first night/day he had been at Josef's but he knew this communal sleeping/freezer thing was not going to work. One of his other room mates for the week, Morgan Grimes shared his sentiments as each glared at Detective Carlton Lassiter who was still blissfully asleep, and snoring. Shawn grabbed a pillow and was about to stick it over Carlton's mouth when Morgan stopped him. "C'mon man, it's not worth it. We have to get up soon anyway." Putting the pillow down with a sigh, Shawn got up and started getting ready for a night of training.

Having been turned into a vampire the previous week, the trio was still reeling at the ramifications that immortality would bring. They were faster, stronger, and smarter... but at what cost? Eventually losing everyone they cared about was at the top of the list, and not craving food was a close second, at least for Shawn. Sure they could eat and taste still, but if the thought of eating his former favorite foods interested him as much as he eating wet cardboard, what was the point?

Shawn nudged Carlton with his bare foot in an attempt to wake him up. The detective shot up, reaching for his gun that wasn't there and looked around dazed. Apparently he wasn't a morning person any more than Shawn was. "Rise and shine Lassie, welcome to your first day of hell." Shawn managed a pretty good drill sergeant voice for being so tired.

"Damn it Spencer..." Carlton moaned pathetically, "I was having the best dream."

Shawn snorted, "You were having the loudest dream." Referring to his snoring.

Morgan shook his head and walked out of the freezer before things got ugly between the two detectives. He thought their relationship was probably one of the worst Love/Hate ones he had seen since the one between his soon to be father in law John Casey and himself. When the two finally emerged from the freezer, both seemed to temporarily not be speaking to each other.

The small group gathered around a table in the middle of the living area. No one was really sure what they were supposed to do or if it was ok for them to grab some blood, which they were all craving badly. Mick had explained the night before that as they age, the need for blood lessens somewhat, but as new turns they would need a lot.

Shawn turned and looked at the clock while drumming his fingers. It was just after midnight and it had been dark for a while. He wondered why no one had woken them sooner. Carlton slapped his fingers to stop them from drumming. "Ow!" Shawn pulled his hand back and waved it around, trying to dull the pain and glared at the other vampire.

"So um… are either of you guys nervous about this whole thing?" Morgan looked expectantly at the two men, "Because if someone _were_ nervous in this situation they would have a legitimate reason and wouldn't be ridiculed for it right?" Morgan put on his best fake smile to completely assure them that he wasn't talking about himself at all.

Shawn saw through it, "Look, dude…we're delving into really uncharted territory here, way outside the norm and I don't think anyone would really look down on you for being scared."

"Speak for yourself. I fully intend to get through this week with as little interaction with you as possible, before going back to my normal duties as Head Detective." Carlton said haughtily, even though Shawn knew him enough to know he was just spouting bull to look tough.

Josef and Mick took that moment to walk into the sitting room. "Oh good, you're all awake." Josef stated as he approached. "I am going to leave training tonight with Mick. I have an unexpected guest I need to deal with and can't join you tonight." Turning to Mick he said, "If you _really_ need me for anything let me know, otherwise… have fun."

As Josef walked off, Mick rolled his eyes and left the room for a moment himself, returning with blood filled glasses for each of them, before taking a seat at the table. "You get enough rest?"

"No." Both Morgan and Shawn shook their heads at the same time Carlton said "Yes." while reaching for a glass of blood. Each took tentative sips, while eyeing each other.

Mick hid a smile and sipped at his blood. It did take a bit of getting used to for new turns to 'drink socially.' "I let you guys get extra sleep. You need your rest. Even vampires can get worn out, as Shawn here knows."

Mick, Carlton, and Morgan all jumped as Shawn's cup exploded in his hand, covering his arm in glass and blood.

"Sorry." Shawn mumbled before grabbing a towel and cleaning up the mess. He didn't like to be reminded of what had happened to him. He knew it was inevitable that he face it eventually, but he had too much on his figurative plate already. Coping would have to come later.

"Jeez Spencer." Carlton wiped a bit of blood off his pants that had splattered. "Watch it."

Shawn gathered up the broken glass in the towel and headed for the kitchen. He caught Mick's attention and motioned for him to follow. Once both were in the kitchen and the glass was thrown away, Shawn turned to Mick. "Dude, you know how much I appreciate all of this, but could you tone down the 'Shawn would know this.' Stuff? Something might slip out because of it and Lassie _can't_ know about you know what."

"Alright man, but you aren't going to be able to keep this from him forever. Keeping a secret for a few years is one thing; eternity is an entirely different matter." Mick lectured.

Shawn tsked in frustration. "I'll tell him eventually ok? Just not yet." Mick held his hands up in surrender before following Shawn back to the sitting room.

When they entered, Carlton was more than a little suspicious. "What's with the private pow wow?"

Shrugging off the question, Shawn replied, "Mick was just interested in a recipe for blood sausage. My grandma used to have such a good one I couldn't help but share it."

Not believing his excuse for a second, he wanted to say something else but he knew arguing with Shawn when he was like this is like arguing with a brick wall, a side stepping, double speaking brick wall. "Whatever Spencer." He grumbled before paying attention to Mick, who had remained standing next to the table.

Mick waited for the three men to look at him before he spoke. As much fun as the night before was with chatting and movies, he knew they didn't have a lot of time to get things done and he needed to speed things up. "Ok guys, first of all, this week is not going to be easy or pretty. This is the crash course of everything vampire and you are going to have to learn it fast." Mick ran a hand through his hair. "I'm not going to be able to teach you _everything_. I can teach you what it is like to be a vampire, but you have to learn for yourselves what your limits are. Everyone is different."

"Our limits?" Morgan's brow scrunched. "Like, how fast we are and stuff?"

"Kind of, also your mental limits. Remember what Josef said, each one of you is a ticking time bomb. Eventually, something is going to happen to set you off. It is not an if, it is a when." Mick knew all about getting set off, but he always hoped that the good he tried to do offset the horrors he had inflicted upon others in the past. "Knowing your limits will eventually be the difference between getting a little peeved off, and massacring a small village."

Shawn smiled at the joke, but when Mick's tense features didn't change he realized, it wasn't one. "Dude, I don't know about you, but I don't think massacre is really in the cards for me." He could never imagine anyone at the table, even Mick, doing something like that. Sure, when he thought Mick was out to kill him, he had defended himself but that was different…right?

Mick raised an eyebrow and walked over to Shawn. He cocked his head and put a hand to his chin, considering something for a moment. Shawn as just about to ask what he was doing when Mick pulled back and landed a blow right to Shawn's jaw, knocking the psychic and the chair backwards.

"What the-?"

"Hey!"

The protests of the other men were cut short when Shawn rolled to his feet and took up an aggressive stance, fangs bared and ready to fight. He surged forward with a loud screech, trying to get to Mick. Fortunately Morgan, who was closest, caught him around the waist and held him back, but only barely. "Holy crap—dude!" Morgan growled through clenched teeth as he strained to hold onto the lunging Shawn.

It only took a moment for Shawn to come back to his senses but by that time the point had been made. His tensed muscles went slack and he panted. "What the hell…" Morgan made sure he was ok before letting him go. Shawn mutely righted the chair and sat down in it, not meeting anyone's gaze.

"What the hell did you do that for?" Carlton demanded. If Shawn's feral reaction caused the detective to be surprised, the cowed reaction afterwards had floored him.

Mick shot him a stern look. "You guys need to start realizing this isn't a game! The only reason you all are breathing right now is because Josef and I think you are worth trying to help. _No_ vampire can survive on its own as young as you guys are. Each of you has had more luck than I can imagine to get you this far and a hell of a lot of willpower to boot." He let his words sink in for a few moments before continuing, "Call it the Hyde to your Jekyll or whatever but the truth is, there is a part of you now that you have to learn to control, before it controls you."

* * *

Ten minutes later, they were all finished with their "breakfast" and had gone to the personal gym in Josef's penthouse a few floors up from where they were staying. Shawn remembered the items he had seen there the night before when he went to stand on the balcony. It had been turned into a vampire training room for the purpose of their stay. Silver knives, stakes, and other torturous implements were sitting on a table at the far end of the room. The rest was a bit of gym equipment and a couple things hanging from the ceiling, which was about 30 feet up.

Mick gathered them all together in the center of the room on a mat and motioned for them to sit. "Ok guys. First off, the thing you have to learn first is control. There are four F's you have to know that will cause you to change if you are not careful. They are pretty much the baser instincts you have to push back in order to keep your head. Fight and flight responses are the big ones. There is also 'feed.' When you feed, not just drinking from a glass or a bag, you will change. It also counts if you get too hungry. Keeping yourself sated is one way to stop this." The three men nodded in understanding.

Carlton raised a hand, and the other two shot him a look that said 'Really?' "How often do we need to…um." He felt incredibly weird saying "feed."

"For now, twice a day _minimum._" Mick stressed. "Any less and you may get too hungry. Shawn tells me that you two have a coroner that you have a deal with. Shawn and Carlton nodded. "Good. You will need it."

"So, what is the deal with the fourth F?" Shawn asked.

Mick smiled, "That is one that will be almost impossible to control. Unfortunately it is part of the reason that a lot of human and vampire relationships do not work out. Lust and love making are also baser instincts, so the last f stands for Fu…"

Shawn held his hand up, "Ok. Got it. No need to explain."

Mick nodded and got to the point. "You are going to have to figure that last one out on your own, since you all have girlfriends it shouldn't be a problem, but here we are going to focus on the first three. I am going to see how far I need to push you, before you change. First, let's test your anger." Mick always thought this part was fun. "Lassiter you're going first."

Carlton pursed his lips and stood up, facing Mick. He was confident his police training would help with self-control. _Spencer doesn't have the field experience I do._ He thought confidently. _Mick won't get me that easily._ Mick aimed a punch for his face and hit him square in the nose. Carlton grit his teeth at the pain but told himself that it would heal. Cupping his nose he growled out, "Son of a _bitch!_" and looked up.

Mick could honestly say he was surprised the detective stayed calm. Looking behind the wincing Carlton, Mick made sure Shawn was doing ok. It had only looked like both men sitting on the ground had grimaced in sympathy pain for the detective's broken nose, but Shawn's was actual pain, being able to feel what his fledgling was going through. "Ok, I can see this will take another tactic. Shawn come here." Carlton gave Mick a weird look as Shawn stood and came over. "I don't know him as well as you do, so I need a favor."

Shawn considered what Mick was implying for a moment before slowly grinning. "Oh, this is going to be good."

"What?" Carlton looked up after his nose had healed and glanced between the two men confused. Surely Mick didn't expect _Shawn_ of all people to beat him up.

Taking a stand in front of Carlton, Shawn looked at him with sympathy. "Remember Lassie, this is for your own good." He took a deep breath as he saw Carlton tense for a physical blow. Unfortunately for him, Shawn was more of an expert at verbal blows, after all, he had Henry Spencer for a father. "Ed Schultz is better than Rush Limbaugh."

Carlton relaxed his stance and gaped in surprise. _Why the hell is Spencer talking about talk radio hosts? _Carlton wasn't really one for talk radio but in his opinion, Ed Schultz was a left wing douche bag compared to Rush. "What the hell are you playing at Spencer?"

Shawn continued, "Clint Eastwood should stick to acting, because his directing sucks."

"Shut up!" This was seriously really starting to piss Carlton off. Mick had said they needed to take things seriously and Shawn was doing the opposite of that.

Morgan, getting what Shawn and Mick were doing, added his own verbal jab at the detective. "Global warming is real."

Breathing heavily and starting to see red, Carlton growled, "I'm _warning_ you guys…"

Mick watched with a smirk, he was a detective himself and could easily see how much Shawn frustrated Carlton, and was glad his plan was working. The guy was practically foaming at the mouth.

Shawn figured it would only take one more to cause the detective to completely lose it, so he made it a doozy. "The NRA should be disbanded."

With that last statement Carlton's face changed and he charged the psychic. Shawn moved quickly out of the way as Mick jumped on him and pinned him to the floor. "Okay, okay. Calm down!"

Carlton bucked and struggled for a few more seconds before giving up. "I am going to get you for this Spencer." His threat was empty and everyone knew it.

Mick got up and offered him a hand, Carlton took it and brushed himself off. He should have gotten what they were trying to do to him sooner, and he might have been able to prepare for it. His pride was more than a little hurt. Shawn draped an arm around him.

"No hard feelings Lassie. Remember, the first step of being a vampire is admitting you have anger issues."

Using two fingers and being sure to squeeze, he removed Shawn's arm from himself, getting some satisfaction at the 'OW!' the action caused. "Don't get cocky Spencer." He smiled evily, "You guys are next."

* * *

Five hours later, Mick was pretty sure he had a baseline on what each guy was capable of, control wise.

Carlton had a very quick temper when it came to verbal jabs and Shawn, but it was evident to Mick that the guy had a huge threshold for pain.

Morgan was like Shawn in the fact that when nervous, he talked a lot, but he was not very quick to anger. They ended up goading him into changing eventually, but it took Shawn saying that the new Star Wars were better than the old ones having remembered Gus' reaction to a snot nosed brat saying it and figured it was worth a shot. As for pain, Morgan was one to over react, even if he wasn't exactly afraid of getting hurt.

Shawn however, was a different matter entirely. No amount of verbal harassment any of them could think of, short of insulting his friends, caused Shawn to get angry. Carlton blamed it on who his father was. If he had spent a life time with that man he would be an emotional rock too. Pain though, as they had figured out earlier, was a good way to get Shawn angry and despite his exuberant demeanor, Shawn had a cold fury when really angry.

Carlton hadn't believed it when he saw it. They had moved up to silver, he knew that was how Shawn was injured before, but didn't expect the reaction it got. Mick had told them they could move around and try to fight back rather than just stand there and be stabbed. As Shawn tried to dodge, Mick caught him by the neck and pushed him up against the wall, nicking him in the midsection with the silver blade. Shawn's eyes had changed as he gasped in pain.

Mick backed off and lowered the weapon. He was about to give Shawn some pointers on keeping calm while injured, when he got bowled over and knocked to the ground. Shawn was on top of him punching him in the face. Unbeknownst to any of the others, Shawn was not seeing Mick anymore.

Mick, who had been staked and paralyzed at the time, never saw how the vampire who turned Shawn and Morgan had pushed Shawn up against a wall and run him through with that same silver knife. Aaron then proceeded to tell Shawn all about how his girlfriend would die at her partner's hands… and he would make him watch it. The move Mick had used on him, even though it was training, had been too similar and the triggered memory made all the emotions of that moment flood back. He had wanted to kill Aaron himself then, and almost had if Gus wouldn't have stopped him.

"Whoa!" Carlton and Morgan had grabbed Shawn off the other vampire until Mick got to his feet.

Wiping the blood from his nose and lip, Mick exclaimed, "What was that for?"

Shawn shrugged, trying to look nonchalant "Sorry man, I kinda lost myself for a second. You know… the adrenaline… cuz I'm a man and all." It was probably the most unconvincing act Shawn had ever put on, but at the time he was still too shaken up at the experience to care. "Um, would I be able to take a break for a bit. I need some air."

"Go ahead. We are almost done for the night anyway." Mick replied.

Carlton watched Shawn head out of the room and thought about what Shawn must have had to go through for the days he never knew what he was. Then being kidnapped by a crazed vampire on top of it must have done a number on his head, not that Carlton thought he was all that stable to begin with. Sooner or later, he figured he would find out about it, but for now he had to focus on his own training and not worry about the damaged psychic too much.

* * *

Shawn wandered towards the elevator, figuring he could go down to the floor they were staying on and sit alone for a while. He knew he wasn't doing a very good job of controlling his anger and really didn't want to disappoint anyone. Even though Shawn knew it wasn't their fault, he felt a bit of bitterness towards Carlton and Morgan, because they hadn't gone through what he had but he also hoped they would never have to.

With the conflicting emotions and disappointment in himself at the forefront of his mind, he almost missed the raised voices coming down the hallway out of Josef's office. He would have continued on, remembering that Josef didn't want to be disturbed, if he hadn't heard one of the voices say his name. Curiosity won out, as always happens with Shawn, and he walked up to the door. He sniffed and was able to smell another vampire besides Josef… and that voice. He could have sworn he recognized it.

Shawn knocked on the door and tentatively opened it. "Josef, is that you man?" Stepping into the office he saw Josef sitting on his side of the desk facing a man with blond hair, dressed in a suit. The man turned around and Shawn's jaw dropped.

Pierre Despereaux, art thief extraordinaire and apparent vampire smiled slowly at the shocked expression on Shawn's face, "Mr. Spencer," His cultured voice drawled. "We were just discussing you."

* * *

**End Notes: Yes, I went there. Despereaux is a vampire. When you think about all the stuff the guy does: wearing heavy clothes and gloves even in California, jumps off of buildings, escapes from jail like it was nothing, disappears when people's backs are turned for a second... it all starts to make sense ;)**

**Anywho, I am having Shawn be super angsty in this one because honestly, the guy has gone through a lot so far in the story. Carlton and Morgan don't quite have the grasp of the situation that he does so far so they are handling it better than he is, for now. **


	2. Blood Brothers

**Author's Notes: This was a tough one to write for the fact that I LOVE Despereaux and I wanted to get his dialogue right. Secondly, this chapter does have some gore and earns the T rating I gave it so be aware.**

**If you haven't read my first story No Such Thing As Psychics you may lose a bit in this chapter because there are some references to things that happened in the past, but it shouldn't be too hard to follow if you haven't read it.**

**I added a new cover art for the story. It was created by the awesome and talented Dragonnan from Psychfic after reading the other installments. This is EXACTLY what I envisioned a vamped out Shawn to look like.**

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**Chapter 2- Blood Brothers**

"Despereaux?" Shawn didn't know whether to be excited or mortified by the fact that the man he had thought of as one of the coolest people on earth, was a vampire. He closed his eyes and put a finger to his head, replaying every instant he had spent with him. All the clues seemed to fall into place, once he knew what to look for.

Pierre always wore heavy clothing and gloves, even in the middle of California's summer. He also had a tendency to appear and disappear very quickly, much to Shawn's annoyance. The first time Shawn saw him he jumped off a building and despite what Gus thought, the thief was _not _wearing a parachute. While interrogating someone, he picked the guy up and hung him off a balcony without breaking a sweat, then admitted he used the tactic often. Shawn also remembered Pierre getting shot in the leg the last time they were in Canada. He couldn't believe he missed it at the time, but less than an hour later, when Carlton had him cuffed, he wasn't even limping. There were so many other smaller incidents that hadn't seemed like anything weird was going on, but at the time Shawn hadn't actually believed in vampires.

Shawn opened his eyes and smirked, shaking his head. "Dude, the _whole_ time…"

"But of course." Pierre stated haughtily.

Shawn walked up to the thief and shook his hand vigorously, "So… what are you doing here?" Shawn excitedly turned to Josef, "I am assuming this is your unexpected visitor."

Josef nodded, but it was Pierre who answered, "I just dropped by for a visit…"

"You dropped by for money." Josef interrupted.

"_Visit._" Pierre glared at Josef before addressing Shawn again, "and I caught your scent as soon as I stepped through the door. Small world isn't it."

Shawn ran a hand through his hair. "Yeah. Seems that way."

Noticing something off about Shawn, Josef sniffed and could tell that the young vampire was agitated about something, but was hiding it well. Figuring it wouldn't hurt to include him in on the conversation, Josef motioned for Shawn to take a seat.

Shawn was grateful for the distraction from his worries, and sat down on the couch, grabbing a pillow. After a moment he realized what Josef had said about Pierre needing money. "Wait, when you deposited your money into our account so we could hold it for you, there was millions of dollars in it. Why would you need money?"

"I deposited it into Josef's account after yours until I could find a suitable identity. I can't really go around using a dead man's name can I?"

Shawn wasn't able to argue with that. "So is Josef a good friend of yours? I can honestly say the only person I would trust with that type of money is my girlfriend and Gus."

Pierre smiled, "Josef and I have quite a history together you might say."

Glaring, Josef got up and crossed his arms. "Don't even say it."

Raising his eyebrows mockingly Pierre smiled, "But he should know."

"Don't say…"

"We're brothers."

Shawn looked back and forth between the two. He couldn't say he saw any kind of family resemblance whatsoever. "So, I'm guessing… brother from another mother?"

"We have the same sire okay?" Josef waved off the association. He was never really one to buy into the whole 'related by vampire blood' issue, even though he joked about it frequently and Pierre wasn't exactly his favorite sibling anyway. He was a business man after all. Pierre was one too, but Josef preferred less shady endeavors, at least in this century.

"Speaking of sires," Shawn's mouth went dry at the question he knew Pierre was going to ask. "Who managed to turn you? Josef said you were here for some training, shouldn't your sire be the one helping you with that?"

Josef saw the distress Shawn was in talking about his sire and took charge. "It was Aaron Lonsdale, the traditionalist from just outside of town."

Pierre hoped it wasn't the one vampire he was thinking of, "Not the guy with the nest." Glancing at Shawn he felt a lot of sympathy for him to be associated with that head case. "Oh dear boy, you do find trouble don't you."

"Well, this time it found me. I crashed my bike and was in the hospital when this guy decides to spike me with vampire blood." Shawn grimaced at the memory. It had been incredibly painful. "He did the same to a bunch of others. Two of us survived."

Turning to Josef, Pierre asked, "Is Shawn here for protection? From what I gather, that guy tends to latch on to those he turns and Lonsdale is older than you. What makes you think you can keep Shawn safe?"

"I can keep him _safe_ because Aaron Lonsdale was put to death two days ago, leaving Mick and I with three baby vampires to look after and train in the next week." Josef grumbled in annoyance.

Pierre looked at Shawn, puzzled "I thought you said there were only two survivors. Who is the third?"

Shawn shifted a bit. "I uh, well…"

"You're joking." Pierre closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. Siring was a big deal for vampires, and a sire as young as Shawn was sure to get some unwanted attention from their version of enforcers. "Do the cleaners know?"

"Cleaners?" Shawn cast a questioning look to Josef.

Blowing out a frustrated breath Josef answered, "They are a type of vampire cop. The ones around here are all female." Shawn gave an impressed look as Josef continued, "They make sure our laws are followed, or if there are accidental killings, they clean them up, and yes they know."

"And why would they care if I made another vampire?"

This time Pierre answered. "You see Shawn, our laws state that a sire needs to have enough experience to impart onto their fledgling how important it is that we remain secret. You, being so new, could potentially mess that up."

"Crap." Shawn cursed. He had never thought of it that way. He was never one to think of consequences much, especially when his friends were in danger, but he didn't want to put Carlton in a bad position if he wasn't a good enough sire. "He was dying and it was Aaron's fault! What was I supposed to do?"

Pierre's interest peeked. "_He?_ Might I know this mystery fledgling?" He figured it was Shawn's black friend, _Buford…Buxton…_ He couldn't for the life of him remember the man's first name. _Now I know why everyone just calls him Gus._

Shawn bit his lip, Carlton and Pierre were like oil and water. They _hated_ each other, _Well, Lassie hates Despereaux anyway._ "Mmmm….I don't think you would know him very well. You might have seen him around but I don't know if you would recognize him if you saw him."

"Oh come now I really must know." Pierre could tell by Shawn's heartbeat that something was up.

Clearing his throat, Shawn coughed out, "_Carltonlassiter"_

The thief hoped he had heard wrong, "Come again?"

Giving up Shawn finally came out with it, "Detective Carlton Lassiter."

Josef had been standing back, watching the two men converse. He figured there had to be some reason Shawn didn't want Pierre to know Carlton was his fledgling. Pierre's reaction was more than he could have hoped for. "That lanky detective who made it his personal mission to catch me? He is an obsessed mad man!"

"He isn't so bad once you get to know him." Shawn defended weakly.

"He is the only one who laughed at my funeral." Pierre would know, he was in the coffin the whole time listening. He really did think Shawn's tearful eulogy was touching.

"Guys! Guys! Enough!" Josef broke up the argument, as amusing as he found making Pierre uncomfortable, they had a lot more important things to get to. "Pierre, there is something you might be able to help us out with."

Shaking his head once more at Shawn, Pierre turned his attention to Josef. "Help with what exactly?"

Josef hated to ask Pierre, he didn't want to give him any more of a big ego than he already had, but he was an expert on history, human _and_ vampire, so he might know what was going on with Shawn. "I know you know a bit more about bloodlines than I do, so have you ever heard of a sire being able to feel what his fledgling does?"

Seeing the expression on Shawn's face, Pierre realized who Josef was talking about, "I haven't heard of such a thing myself, but different bloodlines do seem to have different, for lack of a better word, benefits. This may just be yours." He shrugged. "It's hard to know, the purer bloodlines do tend to keep quiet about such things, right Josef?"

Josef knew all too well about their own bloodline's little "benefits." The vampires in their line tended to have better social graces than others; they were never short on contacts, or funds. It was incredibly useful, but it came with a price, a very sad one. There was something in their blood that once and a while, made turns go bad. The love of his life was currently stuck in an eternal sleep in a house he kept in New York. He visited her secretly every once and a while, hoping she would wake up, but she never does. Not in over fifty years, and maybe not ever. It was because of this that there were so few of their line. Not so much from the botched turns, but the fear of them. _It is probably why Pierre never tried to turn Shawn._ Josef reasoned_._

While Josef was lost in thought, Shawn and Pierre had continued their conversation. "Well, you try walking around with the grumpiest man on earth's emotions running around in your noggin for a while and tell me how much that benefits me."

"Touché." Pierre replied mirthfully.

Smiling again Shawn looked at the thief, "It really is good to see you man. A familiar face is just what I needed. It hasn't been an easy week."

"No worries." Pierre thought for a moment, figuring now was a good of time as ever to ask the question he and Josef had been discussing when Shawn had come in. "You know I have always been fond of you Shawn, you do have a great mind." Shawn waved off the comment, with an _Oh come on…_ gesture. "So I was wondering if instead of getting a crash course in vampirism here, you could to come with me. I could take you under my wing, teach you the ropes."

Shawn was genuinely surprised at the rarely seen generosity from Pierre, but he still had Juliet, Gus and his dad. Plus, he now had Carlton to look after. "Look man, I'm flattered and would love to be the Cheech to your Chong, but I have a life in Santa Barbara, and before this happened, things were going pretty good for me. I just really want to try and get back to that ya know?"

Pierre understood, but it didn't stop him from being disappointed. "Well, if you ever change your mind…"

They were interrupted by a knock at the door. By the scent, they could tell it was Carlton. "Spencer are you in there? We're heading down stairs!"

They all froze and tried to figure out a way to get Pierre out of the room. Carlton thought he was dead, and Shawn knew it was best for everyone that he continues thinking that. "I'll be there in a second Lassie!" Shawn called at the door, then turned around. Pierre was nowhere to be seen, but the window near the desk was hanging wide open. He had just jumped out of the window at least 20 stories up. "Man he is so fricken awesome." Shawn grinned.

"What did you say?" Carlton called through the door.

Sharing a knowing look with Josef, Shawn walked to the door, "Nothing Lassie." Looking at his watch, he realized it was almost 8am. Time must have flew, and Shawn realized how tired he was. Motioning to the elevator where Morgan was waiting for them, Shawn yawned. "Let's go get some rest Las. I call top bunk."

"There are no bunks in there Spencer…"

* * *

Shawn woke in the freezer, and not the one he fell asleep in, the one with his new friend and snoring fledgling. No… it was the one in that damn warehouse.

"_No…_" His breath puffed out in a smoky wisp from the cold. Shawn tried to sit up and realized to his horror that he was once again shackled to the wall with a girl sobbing in front of him. He looked closer and saw it was the same girl as before, Kristen. "Not again!" Shawn griped loudly, "Hey, if this is a dream, I am going to kick my own ass for this!" He tried to pull off the shackles. He started contemplating breaking his hands again. _It's a dream, so it shouldn't hurt as much, right?_

Then he smelt it. The fear, and the blood. Why was he so hungry all of a sudden? _Can you be hungry in a dream?_ He wondered. _God, that smell._ Shawn leaned forward and sniffed deeply. No amount of pineapple smoothies or jerk chicken when he was a human compared to the smell of a frightened human as a vampire.

"_Sweet and aromatic…_" Aaron had told him.

"Is someone there?" Kristen asked, she was shivering from the cold and she apparently couldn't see him in the darkened room. The tremor in her voice made her all the more appetizing to Shawn.

_Don't do it…_ the small voice in his head was barely a whisper as he approached her, his chains dragging behind him creating an otherworldly scraping echo in the enclosed space. He came close enough to her that she was able to make out his silhouette.

She started to shake, "Please, don't hurt me. Who are you?"

Shawn was silent as he watched the blood drip down her neck from the cut his sire had made with his fingernail. He knelt by her, as he had done before, but instead of asking her to scream so he could escape the shackles…he shushed her. "Shhhhh," Raising a finger to her lips, "It's ok." She started to visibly calm until Shawn moved his entire hand over her mouth. She then began to struggle and Mick's voice echoed in his memory.

"_When you feed…you will change."_

His eyes focused on the artery in her neck. His fangs descended and Kristen's struggles became frantic as she saw him become a monster right in front of her eyes. Unfortunately for her, she was chained directly to the ground and couldn't go anywhere even if Shawn let her go.

_Ok, this is the part where I wake up and am thankful it was all a dream…_ Shawn thought, but he was no longer in control of himself. He could do nothing but watch as his fangs sank in to Kristen's neck. The explosion of blood in his mouth was unexpected and he raised his head. Swallowing and taking a breath, Shawn savored the first taste as blood streamed down her body from the gaping wound. _No! Stop! This isn't how it happened!_ Shawn's mind screamed at him, but he was forced to watch the entire grizzly act in a panoramic view with perfect clarity.

Bringing his head down for more, Shawn listened as Kristen's screams turned to gurgled gasps of pain. He let go of her mouth but gripped her tightly, one hand on her shoulder, one on her head, keeping it in place. Kristen struggled to her last raspy breath, clawing at him but he never let go, and he couldn't stop.

A few minutes later, he dropped her chained body to the cold ground. He felt the tingly rush as the fresh blood replenished his starving body. It was painful at first, but then the flash of euphoria hit and he felt stronger and more alert. The pleasure of the blood ended as quickly as it began when Shawn realized what he had just done.

Finally in control of himself again he sunk to his knees, shaking Kristin's limp body, looking for any sign of life. He didn't want to be a murderer. He stopped shaking her, coming to terms that it was useless. She was gone, and it was his fault. Jules was going to kill him for this, and at that moment, had she been there, he would have let her.

"I'm sorry…" He whispered to Kristen. Looking up, he noticed a figure in the freezer doorway.

It was Aaron. "I knew you'd be strong…" His sire gloated.

* * *

Morgan watched as Shawn tossed and turned. Sweat had broken out on his brow and he was mumbling, "No" over and over. Both Shawn and Carlton had been quiet about the circumstances surrounding their turnings. Morgan realized he hadn't exactly been all that forthcoming about his own but it didn't take a genius to figure out whatever Shawn had gone through, it was pretty traumatic.

Shawn suddenly shot up out of bed with a vampiric screech, causing Morgan to jump. "Gah!"

Shawn was breathing heavily and was completely vamped out and shaking. "Oh man," He groaned and wiped the sweat off his face. He noticed Carlton was still asleep and snoring, but Morgan was wide awake and staring at him. "Sorry dude, didn't mean to wake you, if you were even asleep. With that noise it's a miracle I was able to get any…"

Morgan interrupted Shawn by grabbing his arm and whispering, "Come here."

Too tired and upset from the dream to fight, Shawn followed obediently. They made it to the kitchen before Shawn's weary mind realized what Morgan was doing. He headed to the fridge and was starting to grab some blood packs for the both of them.

Shawn waved the one off that Morgan tried to hand to him. "I don't want it." He didn't think he could take drinking blood ever again after that last dream. He'd had similar ones once and a while whenever he was stressed about something, but this was definitely the most vivid in a long time. Probably since he was a kid.

Not taking "no" for an answer, Morgan slid the blood across the table and took a seat directly in front of him. Leaning forward Morgan stated, "Okay, let's hear it."

"Hear what?" Shawn asked playing dumb, while avoiding eye contact.

Morgan knew this wasn't going to be easy. "C'mon! Let's hear why you woke up fangs out, screaming. Let's hear why Mick staked us and not you our first day here. There is something up with you man and until you let it out, it is gonna eat you up inside."

Shawn suddenly found the cleanliness of his fingernails to be top priority.

"Look, even though you know Carlton, or Lassie or whatever you call him, you don't seem to be the kind of friends that spill all your secrets to each other and I just figured you needed a fresh ear." Morgan folded his hands and made it quite clear he was willing to wait until Shawn was ready to talk.

Shawn sighed. Morgan seemed to be the kind of guy who knew how to be a good friend. If he was going to have a literal blood brother, he didn't mind the quirky bundle of nerves sitting in front of him. "Ok, I realize you're concerned, but you couldn't have had it easy when you were turned either, and I am not a huge sharer." Shawn started to rise from the table but the look on Morgan's face stopped him.

It was a hard look to describe. Unless you have had a friend your entire life, someone who knows everything about you, who would do anything for you, you wouldn't understand the power that expression had. That one look said a million different things, most of all saying, "I care." Gus always gave him that look and it never failed to tug at his heartstrings. Shawn figured Morgan was an expert at the look and had a friend that was just as susceptible to it as he was.

"Ok fine." Shawn grumbled, defeated. "I may have been kidnapped by Aaron, staked, chained to a wall, and almost forced to feed off of an innocent girl."

Morgan's eyes got wide and round, which brought out just how blue they were, and mouthed "Wow."

Shawn snorted. "Yeah. I ended up turning things around on him when I broke my thumbs to get out of the shackles. I coup de graced him with a stake and freed the girl."

"Dude, you are a fricken superhero!" Morgan exclaimed. "Got the bad guy and saved the princess." Shawn smiled at the praise. "I totally feel you on the breaking your thumb thing though. There was this one time there were some bad guys in the Buy More where I work and I had to get everyone out so they could disarm the bomb and…" Morgan covered his mouth.

Shawn raised an eyebrow, "Disarming a bomb, reeeeally?"

"Damn it why can't I ever shut up." Morgan grumbled.

"You aren't just a weapons designer are you." Shawn deduced.

Morgan swallowed hard. "Nooo…"

With a smug look, Shawn mirrored Morgan's earlier move and folded his hands. "Ok Morgan. It seems like we're going to know each other for a while, a long while. So, we gotta be truthful about things, capiche?" Morgan nodded. "Ok, let's do this up Hannibal Lector style."

"Quid pro quo?"

Shawn smiled widely, "You know that's right."

"Ok," Morgan cracked his neck, "But I have to warn you. It's intense stuff, you sure you can handle it?"

"I'll go first then… Real profession?" Shawn asked. Taking in Morgan's well groomed appearance, he took a guess, "I'm sensing it has something to do with the public."

"Buy More Store Manager." Morgan said innocently.

Shawn made a buzzer noise.

"Ok, fine." Morgan doubted Shawn would really believe him anyway, "International spy, sporadically working for the US government, and _posing_ as a Buy More store manager."

Shawn paused for a moment before exclaiming, "Dude, that is the sweetest thing I've ever heard."

Morgan was flattered, especially since he thought Shawn's profession was a lot cooler than his own was. Psychic Detective. He had to ask about that one. "My turn!" Clearing his throat he asked, "Are you really psychic?"

"Before…no." Morgan thought it was too cool to be true. "But now, maybe." Shawn elaborated.

"Maybe?"

_I should tell him about this._ Shawn reasoned. _He might have it happen to him someday, but that would mean telling about Lassie. _Figuring it was worth the risk, Shawn spilled the beans. "Well, Josef and I are still trying to figure it out but, I may be able to sense the emotions of fledglings I make."

Morgan's brow furrowed. "But how would you know that unless you had a fledgling." Shawn widened his eyes at Morgan and looked towards the freezer, where Carlton still slept. "Oh…"

"Yeah, it's a long story, but Josef thinks the link is a blood line thing. He called it ESPN or something." Shawn shrugged.

"You mean ESP?"

"I've heard it both ways."

"Right, so you think I'll have this too?" Morgan wondered.

Shawn rubbed the back of his neck uncomfortably. "I dunno man, it's all really new to me." Letting out an amused breath Shawn admitted, "I never thought I'd say this, but I wish they hadn't killed off Aaron so fast. He might have had some answers."

"He tried to get at me too." Morgan admitted. "After I got turned, before Josef got me, he checked up on me to see how I was doing and said he'd be back. If Josef had shown up an hour later, I probably would have been toast. Mick was right. We were really lucky, I think about it and I can't come up with any better way this could have ended up."

Shawn couldn't disagree with Morgan's logic. Everything could have ended up so much worse. Thinking about that brought back some images from the dream and he shuddered. Talking with Morgan had actually helped things, and he felt a bit better. He looked down at the blood and decided to drink it.

Morgan realized he had ignored his own bag and drank his as well. Neither felt like talking anymore, but maybe it was because they had said all they needed to for now.

After they were finished, Shawn realized they had a few hours before they had to be up, and figured he would try to get some more sleep. Mick had threatened tougher training the next day and after the day they had before, Shawn wondered what he had up his sleeve this time.

* * *

**END NOTES: I know I didn't put a lot of Lassie in this one but I promise he will be in the next chapter a lot. I really wanted to get some of the angsty Shawn out of the way because the next couple chapters are going to be a bit playful, and having him mopey wouldn't be a good thing. ;)**


	3. Freshie Perspective

**Author's Notes: Sorry about the lateness of this one. Had to do a lot of tweaking before I got it right. As always, enjoy!**

* * *

**Chapter 3- A Freshie Perspective**

Carlton was surprised that he was actually the first one up. The last couple nights Shawn and Morgan had been at the table by the time he managed to drag himself out of the freezer. Tonight, they were sprawled out and completely oblivious. _I might finally get some time to myself._ The thought was enough to make him, god forbid, tiptoe towards the sitting room.

Just when he thought he was home free, he heard a noise come from the kitchen. "Damn it." Carlton grumbled and turned towards the source of the racket. He froze as he saw three gorgeous, barely clothed women step out. He blushed, completely embarrassed due to the fact that he was still in his night shirt and boxers. Carlton pulled himself together and stood up straighter unleashing his 'Head Detective glare.' "What in the name of holy justice are you doing here?"

The blond one broke away from the others and sauntered up to him. She traced a finger across his sternum bush, "Josef figured you guys would want some breakfast."

"Excuse me?" Carlton had enough trouble drinking from a bag, let alone a half-naked woman. Albeit, it was a fricken gorgeous half naked woman, and Carlton always had a soft spot for blonds. "Sorry ma'am but I," his complaint cut off as he caught her scent. "Uh…" he really tried to form coherent words but failed miserably.

Raising her eyebrows suggestively, the blond purred, "Ooooo… look who's shy." She pushed him down onto the couch and slid onto his lap before presenting her wrist.

As he forced his mouth shut and willed his fangs not to grow he thought bitterly, _I'm going to kill Josef for this._

* * *

_Hungry…_

Shawn woke up instantly. The thought, or was it a feeling stirring him from unconsciousness. For a moment he figured it was a lingering dream until a surge of anger accompanied it. "Lassie?" he groaned and sat up. Carlton was nowhere to be seen. Morgan was still there though. "Hey!" Shawn smacked the sleeping spy on the arm. "Where's Las?"

Morgan pushed his head farther into his pillow and mumbled. "I don't know."

"Something's wrong." Shawn got to his feet and listened. He could hear voices.

Looking up and noticing the concerned look on Shawn's face, Morgan listened too. "Who is it?"

"Women?" Shawn's features scrunched in confusion. "Why would there be women here? Unless…_oh no!" _Shawn jumped over Morgan to get to the door and was out of the freezer in a flash with a confused spy following right after.

When both men, also still in boxers and t-shirts, got to the living room, they found Carlton with a woman practically crawling on him. He was trying to push her off without being too rough, and looked at Shawn and Morgan for help. There were two more women standing to the side watching. The women's heads turned towards the newly arrived pair and they started advancing. "Mmmm... Josef never said they would be so handsome." One of the women purred. It was what Shawn thought, someone had brought them "freshies."

Mick had told him about the humans who are hired or addicted to vampires feeding on them. It was the easiest and safest way to get fresh blood, but Shawn thought it was a huge mistake to put freshies in a room with three new vampires, two of which that had never fed off a human before. Not to mention the fact that they all had girlfriends. Shawn guessed it had to be Josef that did it. _What the hell was he thinking?_ He wondered angrily.

The women were getting closer, taking their time. Morgan didn't want anything to do with this. He didn't think his girlfriend Alex would take the excuse, "I was hungry." When she found out he was ambushed by a sexy woman.

Bypassing the woman heading for him, Shawn went to Carlton's rescue. "Hey hey whoa!" He took the woman's arm and moved her away. "He's taken."

The blond's eyes widened, "Oh! I'm sorry I didn't know you two were a couple."

"What!?" Shawn exclaimed, "No! No no no…I meant he has a girlfriend."

Carlton stood up and growled, "Spencer I don't need you to protect me from a girl."

Anger swelled off of Carlton and Shawn shrugged, "Fine, if you insist." He walked back toward Morgan, who was rebuffing one of the other women.

"I'm fine. Really." The spy insisted.

Figuring enough was enough, Shawn clapped his hands to get everyone's attention. "Look ladies, as much as we appreciate the gesture, none of us are interested, but thanks for dropping by." The women pouted, but the one in front of him was not going to give up that easy.

"Oh, come on." She turned towards Shawn and pulled something sharp out of her hair. "I know what you need, and it isn't my first time." Before anyone could stop her, she cut a small and shallow line across her wrist and moved it almost directly underneath his nose.

Shawn's heartbeat quickened and he did his best to breathe through his mouth. Her blood smelled _very_ enticing, even Morgan and Carlton caught its scent. Doing his best to keep his face neutral even though his eyes were turning pale in need, Shawn backed up. Everything in his instincts were screaming for him to drink, but he'd dealt with this before, in a worse situation. _This is nothing, you can beat it._

With an intense look, Shawn told her clearly. "No."

It looked like his words didn't register with her for a moment. Like she honestly hadn't had a vampire tell her no before. Shawn looked at the others and their eyes had turned as well, and were fixated on the blood starting to drip down her wrist. He wondered if it was the first time they had smelled fresh blood since being turned.

Shawn tried once more to plead with the woman's sense of self preservation. "You obviously haven't done this enough to know when you are in danger lady. Get out."

The woman finally noticed the other vampires watching her wrist intently. "Um, yeah okay." She started to move towards the hallway to leave, along with the other two freshies.

Mick and Josef came in a moment later, viewing the awkward scene with a mixture of amusement, in Josef's case, and concern, in Mick's case.

"Well, I see you got the delivery." He grinned mischievously.

Mick, noticing the new vampires' expressions rounded on Josef angrily, "Get them out of here Josef!"

With a sigh of defeat, Josef beckoned the women, knowing Mick's view on freshies was dim at best, "Ladies, lets leave the guys to their blood bags then." As Josef rolled his eyes and turned to walk away he noticed the glares he got from the other three men in the room. _Great, three more miniMicks._ He thought grimly as he made his smooth exit.

After the women left, Carlton grumbled at the situation then looked over at Shawn. He saw the psychic's hand was shaking and wiping his upper lip. "Spencer..." He started forward but backed off at the look he received.

Shawn, cursing himself for the slip, smiled widely at the detective facade firmly in place once more. "So Lassie, how much will you pay me not to tell Marlowe about this?"

"Shut it." Carlton grumbled and stalked towards the fridge and out of the room, ignoring Morgan and Mick completely.

Turning to Morgan, Mick apologized. "Sorry about that. Josef can be...well, a bit insensitive when it comes to humans." He paused a moment, "And anyone in a relationship."

Morgan was still trying to calm down. "Whew... is that always going to happen when we're around blood?"

"It gets better. That's why I have you guys here. A week isn't nearly long enough to teach you everything, but we can at least help you get the basics down."

Morgan nodded in understanding, "So, what's in store for tonight?" he was really hoping it wasn't any more silver.

"First go get some blood, then we'll talk." Mick answered and Morgan started following Carlton's path to the kitchen. Looking to his right, Mick saw. Shawn hadn't moved from his spot next to the couch. He was lost in thought, and by the looks of it, it wasn't a pleasant one. Mick honestly felt sorry for him. The psychic had probably come the closest to going feral that he had seen someone come back from, not to mention had no idea what he was for at least three days after the turning. Being a vampire wasn't all bad, but the poor guy couldn't have had any good experiences yet.

After a moment, Shawn seemed to snap out it and he saw Mick watching him with interest. "Sorry." Shawn apologized and gestured to his head. "Sometimes I just tune out."

"You did good you know. I haven't seen a lot of vampires able to resist that kind of temptation." Mick shrugged, "Myself included." He had gotten in some pretty hot water with his girlfriend Beth when she walked in on Mick testing someone's blood during a case. Of course it was Josef who convinced him a bite would be faster than a blood test, and of course Beth walked in at the exact moment he had bitten down on the woman's wrist. Awkward.

Shawn brushed off the compliment and ruffled his messy bed hair. "I just don't want Jules give up on me. This whole thing is a lot to adjust to."

Mick nodded and motioned towards the kitchen. "Let's grab some blood, then I have something interesting planned for tonight."

"Should I be afraid?" Shawn smirked.

"Only if you don't like heights…" Mick trailed off and continued walking.

Shawn didn't like the sound of that, but he didn't really have an issue with heights. _It should be no problem then, right?_

* * *

Mick was right about the height thing, because the place he had taken the group was the roof of the building, many many stories up. Morgan refused to even look over the side but Shawn was peering over the edge, wondering if someone could reach terminal velocity by the time they hit the ground.

"What are we doing up here? Star gazing?" Carlton snarked.

"Actually, I have something kind of fun planned." At the word fun, Mick knew he had their attention. "We've gone over your weaknesses as a vampire, but now it's time to go over your strengths."

"Sweet!" Shawn exclaimed and he and Morgan fist bumped. "You have to tell me one thing first. Can we, or can we not change into a bat or other flying rodent creature?"

Carlton rolled his eyes. "You're an idiot."

"So can we lift cars or something?" Morgan asked. "I would live to be able to throw someone across a room. MAN that would be fricken cool."

Mick held up his hands because they all started asking questions at once. "Guys! One thing at a time! First thing about your new abilities you have to know is that each vampire is different. Different lines also give different strengths. From what I saw fighting Aaron..." _and Shawn, _Mick thought, "You guys are going to be pretty fast."

Carlton's eyes narrowed, "How fast?"

"You can outrun a car going forty miles an hour." Mick shrugged.

Pumping his fist, the detective exclaimed, "YES! O'Hara eat your heart out!" After getting a glare from Shawn, Carlton composed himself, "I mean, that's good."

Mick knew this was going to be interesting. "First though, I am going to teach you guys how to jump."

"Okay Morpheus, I am pretty sure I know how to jump." The detective quipped sarcastically. "How far can we really go, ten... maybe twelve feet?"

"Alright tough guy. We'll go for an easy one." Mick pointed to a building almost thirty feet from where they were standing and almost a story higher. "Go for that one Neo." Mick smiled, continuing the joke.

Shawn looked to Morgan, "What's with all the Matrix humor all of a sudden?" The other vampire shrugged and looked back to Carlton and Mick, interested in how this was going to play out.

Carlton saw how far it was away and his eyes widened. He didn't want to look weak in front of the other guys so he got ready to take a running leap, sure that Mick wouldn't give him a task that would kill him.

"Wait a second." Mick stopped him. "No running start. Jump from right there."

"Okay, now you're just messing with me." Carlton complained, all the while not noticing Shawn's smile was getting bigger.

Shawn had actually done this before. By accident really but still, he leapt while Mick was chasing him and ended up three stories up, hanging off a ledge. He figured the jump he was asking Carlton to do was pretty easy. Giving Morgan and elbow bump and raised eyebrows he whispered, "Follow me."

They snuck around to the edge of the roof. Carlton was still arguing with Mick when Shawn jumped up to the other building. It wasn't the best landing, but it was a lot softer than Shawn thought it would be, or even _should_ be physics wise. "_Sweet."_ He whispered and snuck up to the edge to look down. He waved Morgan up and after a moment of hesitation, the spy made the leap, landing a bit more gracefully than Shawn did.

"That was awesome!" Morgan exclaimed before being shushed by Shawn. Morgan hadn't mentioned anything to Shawn about it, but he already had some experience in super humanness. A program called the Intersect, carrying spy training and secrets and was currently in his friend Chuck's head, accidentally got put into his own for a while. He was able to do super spy things people only dream about, and got pretty good with it too. That was, until it started to turn him into an evil a-hole. He knew more than most how much power corrupts, and after being turned had made a solemn vow on his Star Wars collection that he would do better this time. If not for himself, then for his lady Alex.

The pair on the roof watched in amusement as Carlton continued to rant, "There's no way I am jumping up there it's physically impossible!"

"HEY LASSIE!" Shawn called out across the rooftops. The detective's gaze snapped to where Shawn's voice came from. "You gonna get with the rest of the class sometime?" He and Morgan grinned at each other.

Carlton cursed, pissed off that he was shown up by Shawn yet again. "Spencer I am going to wipe the floor with you when I get up there!"

"Sorry Lassie! I am wearing my non absorbent shirt today! I'll be less likely to clean anything! Might I suggest Bounty towels!" Shawn yelled back.

Having heard enough out of the psychic, Carlton took a stance and jumped as hard as he could in Shawn's direction. Unfortunately, he over shot the waiting pair by about fifteen feet and skidded to a stop right next to the opposite edge of the roof, pin wheeling his arms to stay balanced. Morgan and Shawn got there in time to stop him from going completely over the edge. It would have been a long way down.

"Whoa there buddy! We don't want to lose our mascot do we?" Shawn chuckled.

"God damn it Spencer I could have been killed!" Carlton pushed a laughing Shawn away.

Mick walked up behind them, having jumped to the roof right after Carlton. "It would have hurt, but it wouldn't have killed you. I've seen vampires jump from a forty story building and land without a scratch."

Shawn pointed at Mick, "See?"

"Whatever, just quit being such a dick Spencer."

That phrase caught Shawn off guard. He was giving Carlton a lot harder time than usual but he didn't think he was being a dick about things. Shawn figured it was probably because if he stopped giving Carlton crap, the detective would think there was something up so he had been laying it on a bit heavier than normal. _Gotta watch that._ He chastised himself.

* * *

As they continued learning some of their physical limits, Shawn came across a new problem. Being Carlton's sire, made Shawn a bit stronger than him in principle so when the detective started to get really angry after Shawn beat him a few times, the psychic figured he'd better tone it down. "It was just beginners luck Lassie!" Shawn shouted after a climbing match, then he proceeded to lose the next one on purpose.

It went that way almost all night until, exhausted, the three vampires were told they could relax a bit.

Shawn was the first to flop down on the couch, so the others had to take the chairs. "Dude," he panted dramatically, "I don't know how much more of this I can take."

"At least we don't sweat anymore when we work out." Morgan pointed out from his sprawled out position. "Apparently vampires and BO don't mix."

"True dat." Shawn replied with a lopsided grin. Remembering something, he hopped up and exclaimed, "Holy crap I almost forgot, tomorrow Gus is coming up." Turning towards Morgan he asked, "Didn't you say something about Chuck coming over too?" Morgan nodded. He felt a pang of anger stemming from Carlton at his words. Rolling his eyes Shawn wondered _What'd I do now?_ "Lass what is up with you man? Why are you being such a downer."

Carlton gave Shawn a suspicious look. "I didn't say anything."

Trying to cover for his slip, Shawn pointed to his head and gave the detective a '_duh'_ look. "It doesn't take a psychic to tell you are all grumps about something. What is it?"

"Look Spencer, if I would rather share my feelings with a throw rug than you guys okay? So just shut it and leave it be." The truth was, Carlton was really upset about something. It basically boiled down to Shawn and Morgan had people coming to visit them, and he didn't. He had no friends he hung around with, no buddies he went drinking with, and with Marlowe in the slammer, certainly didn't have anyone waiting for him when he got home. It was a depressing thought for anyone, not to mention a very lonely one.

"Ok man, but you have to talk to someone before you explode." Morgan commented.

_Or before you make me explode._ Shawn thought bitterly, wondering if he should just give it up and tell Carlton before realizing that it would probably drive the man crazy, and he was having to deal with enough emotions from Carlton already. "I'm going to go find a TV if anyone would like to join me." Shawn hopped up and moved to the doorway, "I'll make sure to see if I can get the Matrix so we can do some extra studying." He winked and disappeared out the door.

"Is he always like this?" Morgan asked, clearly amused by Shawn's antics and rose to join him.

Carlton thought about it for a second, "Not so much lately, but yeah."

"So, he's been acting different." Realizing what he said, Morgan clarified, "Well, more different than this..." He gestured to himself, indicating their recently developed vampirism.

"Spencer's hard to read on the best days, let alone when he is hiding something." Carlton grumbled and got up as well, figuring some movie time would be just the ticket, and the Matrix was actually one of his favorite films, if only for the amount of shooting they did. "Let's go get him before he decides to pick something lame like Sixteen Candles."

"Hey, John Hughes was a great director!" Morgan defended, and followed the detective out of the room.

* * *

**END NOTES:** A bit of Lassie angst in this one. Hope you liked it. Next chapter will be fun with the whole gang there.


	4. I Spy

**AUTHOR'S NOTES: I put a lot of touching moments and silliness in this one. I am sorry about the lateness but 80 hour work weeks are killer. :(**

* * *

**Chapter 4- I Spy**

After a few days of being up all night, being up during the day was harder than Carlton thought it was going to be. It was like his circadian rhythm flip flopped and even being up at 2pm became a chore. As Head Detective, he knew he would have to tough it out because a lot of his work required being up all day, as early as 6am. The other two, much to Carlton's annoyance, didn't seem to notice the schedule change. He figured it was because they were really excited to see their friends, but they seemed nervous as well.

"How much longer is it going to be?" Shawn groaned impatiently. "Mick said it would only be a little bit!"

"Hey Spencer." Shawn looked at Carlton expectantly. "What do you want me to get you for your wedding." The detective grinned.

Shawn was puzzled that Carlton would ask him about his and Jules' wedding, especially since they weren't having one. "What?"

"Oh!" Carlton said with mock innocence, "Is your last name going to be Guster-Spencer or Spencer-Guster? Usually it is the man's name at the end, and Spencer-Guster has a nice ring to it." Morgan laughed hard at Carlton's jibe.

Finally getting it, Shawn glared at both men, "Suck it."

Feeling smug in the fact that he actually got Shawn, Carlton quit while he was ahead, or before the psychic could think of something better to say.

* * *

Mick watched as Chuck paced nervously and Gus wrung his hands. They were on their way up to the guest floor where, Mick was sure, the three baby vampires were waiting just as nervously. From his experience the humans were actually holding themselves together quite well for the situation they were in, but both were stinking of fear. Chuck seemed the most out of sorts. Probably due to the fact that he hadn't had the chance to hang out with Morgan after he was turned as much as Gus had with Shawn. Chuck had only seen Morgan for a short while after his so called "rescue." Their whole team stormed Josef's building to get Morgan back from what they thought were kidnappers. It was that rescue that left a lot of Josef's penthouse a hot mess.

They had both been full of questions during the discussion Mick had with them. He'd wanted to make sure he answered as many questions as he could that the pair might be shy about asking Shawn and Morgan. It wasn't easy, he sat there for almost a half an hour putting up with questions like, "Can they turn into bats?", "Do they _have to_ drink blood?", and the most important question… "Are Shawn and Morgan still the same people?" Mick had done his best to answer the questions and tell them the truth, but he knew from experience that people had to see things for themselves. No matter how much he told the pair about their friend's predicament, it wouldn't truly register until they saw it for themselves.

"You guys ready?" Mick smiled reassuringly.

Chuck sighed heavily, "God I hope so."

"You bet your ass. I have a little bit of payback to do for a certain purple hoodie." Chuck and Mick started at Gus incredulously for the seemingly random comment. Raising a hand Gus shook his head, "Never mind. You wouldn't understand."

As soon as the door opened, both Morgan and Shawn were up from the couches and at the elevator. It was a bit disconcerting for Gus and Chuck one moment seeing an empty hallway and the next their friends were right in front of them. Both pairs stood awkwardly for a few seconds.

Shawn was the first to speak. He held out a hand to Chuck, "You must be Morgan's friend. I'm Shawn Spencer, psychic detective." He turned to Morgan and pointed at Gus. "I'd like you to meet my partner, Van H…"

Interrupting Shawn before the nicknames started, Gus warily extended a hand to Morgan. "Burton Guster."

Carlton was watching the exchange between the group from the end of the hallway. He couldn't stand it. Needing to get out of the bro-mance fest, he headed for the elevator grumbling, "Get a room."

Mick caught the detective at the elevator. "Lassiter, come with me for a second."

"Anything to get me away from this." Carlton motioned over his shoulder with his thumb. "I swear, they act like they haven't seen each other for a year. It's been three days."

Entering the elevator and pressing the button for the lobby, Mick shrugged, "I guess it just depends on how close someone is to each other. They've been friends since they were little kids."

"Yeah well, friendship is over rated. I don't have any friends and I am perfectly fine. Once Marlowe gets out, we won't need anyone else." The crushing loneliness was back.

"I'm sure you have friends Lassiter."

"Where are they then?" Carlton demanded angrily as the elevator reached their floor. "I know I don't have anyone wanting to see me or give me a pep talk about how it's okay that I'm a vampire. If I thought anything else I would be fooling myself St. John."

Mick's face was unreadable as he led the way out of the elevator and walked towards the lobby. Carlton had never seen this part of the building before. They must have gone in the back when they arrived, because the front was bustling with activity. They walked into one of the sitting areas and there, sitting on a chair, was someone that Carlton never expected to see waiting for him. "O'Hara?"

Juliet jumped a little bit at her name being called before she rose and approached her partner. "Carlton, how are you doing?" She gave him a quick hug and Carlton made sure to avoid her injured wrist.

"What are you doing here?" Thinking about it for a second, Carlton's heart fell again. "You're here to see Spencer aren't you?"

Looking uncomfortable, Juliet shook her head. "I'm actually in town to meet Mick's girlfriend Beth and Morgan's girlfriend Alex. Kind of a support group for girlfriends of vampires I guess." She smiled at the silliness of the situation. "I called Mick up on my way here and he said I would be able to say hi to you."

"But what about Spencer?"

Juliet gave her partner an intense look. "Carlton, you were my partner for five years before Shawn and I started dating and you have been my best friend for six years. You really think I wouldn't come by just to see _you_?"

Honestly taken aback, Carlton realized that she was right. They had been there for each other for six years. He had been too immersed in self-pity to realize it. Carlton caught Mick's eye and nodded his thanks as he and Juliet turned and walked through the lobby to chat.

Mick watched them walk off, happy that Carlton was so wrong about having no friends. He strode back to the elevator with a determined gait. He had his own friend to chat with. Josef had a lot of explaining to do for the freshies he'd tried to force on the newbie vampires the night before. _He has a lot of explaining to do…_

* * *

Shawn hadn't thought anything about Carlton heading off with Mick. After all, detective grumpy pants didn't want to be around everyone anyway. Carlton had been moody for days and it was always a dark cloud over Shawn's usual energetic mood. He was starting to think proximity made it worse and being cooped up with the surly detective wasn't helping matters.

It was only when all four men had settled into the sitting room that Shawn began to worry a bit. The feeling of moodiness was gone, replaced by what Shawn could only describe as… contentedness? Happiness? _Why would Lassie be happy all of a sudden?_ he asked himself. He made a mental note to check his bedding for booby traps.

"Shawn!" Gus' shout caught his attention.

"What?" Shawn noticed the other two were staring as well. "Do I have something on my face?" Shawn started feeling around, besides a bit of stubble that had started to grow over the past couple days, he didn't find anything.

"You looked like you tuned out for a second there buddy." Chuck pointed out and Shawn stopped trying to figure out what was wrong with his face.

Giving a charming smile he shrugged. "It happens. With a brain as big as mine I tend to get lost."

"Shawn, you can't get lost in empty space." Gus chided and Shawn punched him in the arm. Forgetting his strength until Gus let out a loud "OW! That was too hard Shawn!"

"Didn't mean to." Shawn mumbled, pissed off at himself for the screw up.

Gus rubbed his arm. He knew Shawn hadn't meant to almost break a bone with a playful sock to the arm. "I'm fine Shawn, don't worry about it."

"Oh!" Chuck exclaimed, remembering something. He reached into his jacket and pulled out a large Chewbacca action figure. "I figured you might need this, ya know, for a taste of home."

Gus' eyes widened. "Is that a limited edition 1977 Chewbacca from Star Wars?" Morgan and Chuck nodded, impressed at Gus' knowledge of one of their favorite film franchises. "That's cool. I spent a fortune to pick up C3PO."

Shawn, who had never seen the allure of the movie series, besides the Ewoks which he thought were absolutely _adorable_, looked disbelievingly at his best friend. "No wonder you don't have a girlfriend."

"Shut up Shawn!" Addressing Chuck and Morgan, Gus ignored Shawn and continued the conversation. "As I was saying…"

The group sat and talked for the next half an hour about Star Wars. Even Shawn threw in a reference or two, they usually had to be corrected by Gus though. The discussion was just what they needed to break the ice of the situation. Just a confirmation for both parties that things were relatively normal, despite their circumstances. Eventually though, the topic turned back to the elephant in the room.

"So then Chuck and I start humming Darth Vader's theme song. I had that in my head the whole time I was in that meeting." Morgan had to infiltrate a meeting of really bad guys and had been scared he wasn't tough enough, when Chuck realized how to get him perfectly motivated. "Man, if I was a vampire then, I would have been able to kick all their evil asses!" Morgan faked some karate moves for emphasis.

"Uh buddy," Chuck looked curiously at Morgan. "Just, how strong are you?"

Morgan thought about it. "Well, I can lift a car. Which is completely cool by the way."

Chuck got up and gave Morgan a grin. Shawn looked at the spy's expression. "What? You're going to take him on? This I gotta see. SPY FIGHT!" He pumped his fist in joy.

"What? Spy fight? What are you talking about Shawn?" Gus asked confused, but Morgan and Chuck were already moving furniture out of the way for their showdown. Gus turned towards Shawn in a panic. "Are you telling me I've been sitting with spies this whole time?! I don't want to be black bagged Shawn!"

"Relax, they're cool." Shawn tried calming his friend.

Once everything was moved, the spies squared off. They'd done this more than once before Morgan was turned. Part of the fun was seeing if he would be able to hit Chuck with the intersect program boosting his moves. With his new vampire strength and speed, Morgan figured it would be a bit more even this time.

Shawn grabbed a pillow and leaned forward. He knew this was going to be good. He also wondered if Mick was ever going to let them spar against each other. He just may have to kick his favorite detective's butt. _But if I kick his butt, then I'd be kicking my own butt._ He reasoned. Shaking the thought away, he decided to just enjoy the show. "Watch this." He pointed at Morgan.

"You sure you want to do this buddy? Remember what happens when you mess with the intersect." Chuck teased.

Morgan flicked his nose and kept mobile as they circled each other. "You don't have any Nintendo controller cords this time!"

"Alright then," Chuck glared and used his best Clint Eastwood voice. "Let's dance." He made the first move, raising his leg for a kick.

Morgan expertly ducked underneath his friend's leg and swiped the other one out from underneath him. Chuck didn't stay down long. He flipped up from his back, onto his feet once more. Morgan took the opportunity to throw a couple of punches to push Chuck off balance.

The impact of the blows was harder than Morgan had intended and the pain of the punches caused Chuck to "flash." Flash was their nickname for what happened when the Intersect computer in Chuck's brain brought up certain useful spy training programs. In this case it was fighting.

Realizing what he did Morgan muttered, "Crap." Because he knew the fight had just gotten a lot harder.

* * *

Mick paced the floor after demanding an explanation from his arrogant friend, He wanted to wipe the smirk off of Josef's face so badly. "Neither Lassiter or Morgan had smelled fresh blood before your little stunt. What were you thinking?"

Josef, who had avoided Mick the day before so he wouldn't have to have this conversation, sighed in exasperation. "Give me a break Mick. It was a test! I wanted to see how they'd react." He smirked and put his feet up on his desk, leaning back in his chair. "We had to find out eventually because we can't have them running around biting people just because they smell good. This thing is on us now too. They screw up, it means we screwed up."

The private eye ran a hand over his face tiredly. "They all seem just fine with bagged blood."

Josef snorted, "And how many times have you fallen off the wagon there champ? You think they are going to want bagged once they get a taste of the real thing?"

"Shawn has had the real thing. He turned it down." Mick pointed out.

Josef pursed his lips. Shawn had made it clear that he didn't want him to go blabbing about their conversation from earlier that week. Mick, though skeptical, had no proof that Shawn wasn't a psychic as he claimed. So telling his friend that Shawn's control came from a lifetime of conditioning, wouldn't work. "Listen Mick, accidents happen. I had to know what they were going to do if I'm supposed to help you, help them."

Mick saw the logic in his friend's plan. With as arrogant and immature as Josef acted sometimes, Mick forgot that he was over 400 years old. "Alright then. Now that you know how they'll react, what are you going to do?"

"Well, for starters we could make sure they get better at resisting the urge to feed. You know babies. They chew first and ask questions later." Josef looked at his watch, "How much longer?"

"Give them another hour. They have a lot of questions to answer. I bet they have done nothing but chat since they got here…"

* * *

The spy fight had gotten more intense. Chuck was surprised that Morgan was holding his own and it really really hurt when he got hit. Shawn and Gus weren't helping any. They groaned when either man got hit and cat called "PIN HIM!" Every time one would fall to the ground.

Eventually, after a lot of blocks and dodges, Chuck landed a hit on Morgan's mouth, hard. His face turned away in pain and Chuck moved forward to apologize but froze mid step. He watched as Morgan's complexion paled to almost translucent, except for around his eyes which started to look a bit more sunken and red. The cut on Morgan's lip healed almost instantly and when he opened his eyes they were white. Chuck could even see little corners of fangs protruding. Unlike Gus, who had already seen Shawn change, this was a completely new experience for Chuck, and he started to back away.

Far from actually being angry, Morgan was more surprised than anything by the hit and shook the spinning from his head. "Wow, that was a skull crusher." He noticed the wide eyed look on Chuck's face and realized what had happened. "Okay buddy, I need you to not freak out."

Realizing their entertainment was over and that the friends needed some alone time to talk, Gus and Shawn rose at the same time. "Uh, Chuck, we're going to go now so you can have a bit of privacy." Gus explained before they both made a quick exit down the hallway, and smashed right into Carlton who was returning from his meeting with Juliet.

"Watch it!" The detective cursed. Smoothing out the rumple s in his clothes.

Shawn was about to say something smart alecky but instead something else caught his attention. A smell lingering on Carlton. A very familiar smell. Sniffing deeply, Shawn saw brownish blond hair, and a beautiful smile. "JULES! You saw Jules?" Stopping for a moment he puzzled. "Why would _you _see Jules? Or, more specifically, why would _she _see you?"

Giving the psychic an annoyed look Carlton spat, "You know, I've heard a few people say you were smart, but I've yet to see it Spencer." He patted Shawn on the back condescendingly and walked away.

"You know he's right Shawn. Sometimes you can say some pretty stupid things." Gus had gotten why Juliet had stopped by. She'd even mentioned it to him, but Gus knew Shawn was too possessive of his girlfriend for the situation to sink in. "You know, we still need to talk to Shawn."

"Yeah, we do." Shawn smiled, "But dude… we got to see a spy battle. How cool was that? Best fighting match everrrr!" Shawn raised his hand for a fist bump.

Gus returned the bump. "Just don't try that with me. I enjoy having my bones intact and my sweet chocolaty skin unblemished." He stated sticking his nose in the air snootily.

"You know that's right buddy. Now, let me show you where the big screen TV is."

* * *

**END NOTES: I had to do a Vampire vs Intersect fight, just because...how often do you ever get to read a set up like that? lol**

**Still, trying to keep it mostly Psych so you guys who haven't seen the crossover shows aren't lost. **

**Only one more chapter for this story, then FINALLY I will be able to get to "Love Lasts Forever, but Sanity has a Shelf Life."**


	5. Family Matters

**AUTHOR'S NOTES: Okay! Last chapter for this one. Sorry it has been taking so long but this one wasn't pre-planned like the others but I hope you enjoyed it anywho! **

* * *

**Chapter 5- Family Matters**

Shawn wanted to scream from the rooftops "TGIF!" even though it was actually Saturday. The point was, there was only one more day of before he got to go _home_.

He'd been thinking about home non-stop for the past couple days, ever since Gus came by and he'd smelled Juliet. He was even desperate enough to call his dad and have an awkward conversation, just to be able to say hello. It was then Shawn realized that this had been the longest he had been away from his friends and family since returning to Santa Barbara years ago. Sure he had taken longish trips before, but something seemed to happen every time to bring either Gus or Juliet running and he missed them a lot.

Shawn had felt more than a little resentment towards Carlton the last couple days as well, for the fact that Juliet had decided to visit the detective and not him. He knew it shouldn't bug him as much as it did, but Shawn was never as confident as he appeared to be when it came to relationships. He had bad luck in love his whole life, and now that he had the girl of his dreams he kept expecting it all to fall to pieces. In fact it almost had.

_Maybe I'll take her out to eat and explain things._ Shawn told himself as he entered the kitchen during some of their down time. Neither he nor Juliet had had time to process the revelation of him coming clean about being not being a psychic, not to mention the whole vampire thing and he hoped that a little alone time would change that. _I'll have to make this one good for her to forgive me._

Shawn stopped short noticing Carlton was already sitting at the kitchen table. He approached cautiously, because it didn't take their freaky connection to figure out that the detective was frustrated. "Hey Lassie. What's crack-a-lackin?"

Carlton cringed at the voice. "What do you want?"

"Just seeing what you're up to." Shawn looked over Carlton's shoulder.

"I'm writing a letter to my sister." Carlton mumbled and gave the appropriate pause time for Shawn to put in his smart ass remarks. To his surprise none came. He looked up to the psychic and saw a distant look in Shawn's eyes. "What?"

Shawn pursed his lips. "You're trying to figure out what to tell your family."

It wasn't a question. Sometimes Carlton had to wonder about the psychic thing, but he would never ever admit it. "Good guess." He grumbled and tapped the paper with his pen.

Shawn sat down next to him. "I keep forgetting I have it a bit lucky. My secret identity got blown sky high within the first two days. Well, I guess there's still my mom." He grimaced at the thought of telling her, doubting she would take it well.

"The way I see it," Carlton stared at the blank paper. "I could either wait a few years, until they get suspicious, then disappear. Leave my job, leave my home, take Marlowe and start over. Let them think I died or something."

Shawn felt a wave of sadness and figured that wasn't the route Carlton wanted to take.

"Or, I could tell them everything and risk being labeled a freakish monster." The detective let his head drop to the table. "What kind of person would do this to someone? Just step into our lives with no warning and screw us over."

"No clue. None what so ever." Shawn's guilty conscience went into overdrive.

Carlton wasn't really listening though. He just wanted to get some things off his chest, even if it just happened to be to Shawn. "It kind of makes you wonder. If there are vampires, what in the name of Judas Priest is also out there?"

Shawn's eyes widened. He never thought of that. The prospect of it was enough to give one nightmares for eternity… which was entirely possible for them. "Note to self, watch re-runs of Supernatural and study up on everything else that goes bump in the night."

Snorting, Carlton went back to looking at the paper. He was seriously thinking about just coming out with it to his family. After all, Marlowe took it pretty well, but she was special. _Gus and Henry took it okay and O'Hara hasn't ran off screaming. Maybe it is possible to go back to our normal lives._ He really hoped this was true, but in his experience, life was not a bunch of rainbows and fairies. It was harsh, cruel and unfair.

Realizing that Carlton was in his own world again, Shawn got up from the table and left him to brood. He rode the elevator to Joseph's penthouse, and tried to cheer up. There were so many things that could have gone worse in the situation. Carlton could have died, he could have killed the girl in the freezer and been Aaron's protégé. All worse case scenarios that never happened, and never would happen. That thought made Shawn smile.

Shawn started to think, _ Maybe I can do this_. He was a very adaptable person and he needed to treat this like just another thing he needed to master before moving on. Catching his reflection in one of the many mirrors in the penthouse he purposefully changed his face and took a good look before dropping his gaze sadly. _It's not like I have a choice anyway…_

* * *

Mick had been looking for Shawn for a half an hour before he found him. The building was huge and the psychic just happened to be in the last place Mick thought he would be. The training room. He looked in and saw Shawn was practicing some moves with one of the knives. He was making goofy, fake karate noises, but the moves he was using were familiar. They were the same ones Mick had used on them during the first day of training. He was amazed that Shawn could pick up on them so fast.

After a couple more moves Shawn caught a scent and spun around, catching Mick watching him goof off. He quickly put the sword back, looking sheepish. "Mick, didn't see you there."

Mick hated to interrupt Shawn. He looked like he was enjoying himself but there were more important things to attend to, especially since they had only one more day. "Hey Shawn, I need you to come with me for a while. I have something to talk to you about."

Shawn cocked his head, and looked at Mick. He could tell there was something bugging the other vampire. Shrugging he followed Mick, curious about what he wanted with him and not the others. "Sure man."

Mick led the way to Josef's office. The mogul was not there. Instead a woman was waiting for them. She was tall and skinny with long brownish red hair pulled back into a neat ponytail. That was not the most distinguishing feature about her though. The fact that she was clad in all shiny black leather from neck to feet with a liberal amount of cleavage showing was probably the most noticeable thing for Shawn.

Shawn stared for a moment. "Wow lady. I can't really complain about how you look in that outfit but didn't anyone ever tell you that cotton breathes, Miss…?"

Mick stepped in, "Uh Shawn, I'd like you to meet The Cleaner."

Shawn held his hand out but the woman looked at it and did not take it. "Okay…" Shawn said in the awkward silence. "So is there a first name in there or do I just call you Cleaner?"

The Cleaner's eyes went to Mick and she raised an eyebrow. "This, is the guy Josef told me about?"

Shawn's jaw clenched but his amused grin didn't falter. "You guys were chatting about me? Should I be flattered? Did he mention I was really really good at foosball? That's probably the most interesting thing about me besides the fact that I'm psychic."

"Josef, mentioned the fact that you claimed to be psychic." The Cleaner's scrutinizing gaze was unnerving. "But that's not why I'm here." She moved closer to him and sniffed. "Your sire said a few interesting last words, and I wanted to see for myself that they were true."

"Last words?" Shawn's brow furrowed. "What are you some kind of old school executioner or something?"

"Shawn..." Mick warned. "The Cleaner's job is basically to 'clean' up after vampires who have accidents-"

"Accidents like killing people." Shawn interrupted. He couldn't believe they could be so callous when it came to human life. His rational mind figured it came with age but there was no way he was ever going to refer to viciously killing someone as an "accident."

"Yes," The Cleaner confirmed, "We also are the ones who are in charge of executing rogues who are a danger or who have threatened to expose our existence. I was the one who put Aaron to death."

Shawn liked her a lot more now. "So, is that it? You're here to tell me the world is now a better place because there is one less crazed vampire on the lose turning people?"

The Cleaner smirked. It made her all the more intimidating. She started walking around Shawn, taking in his appearance, which wasn't too bad in her opinion. "Aaron mentioned that you sired a fledgling already. Is that correct?"

Shawn's head whipped to Mick, then back to The Cleaner. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"You have been a vampire for less than two weeks. In our culture, sires are supposed to look after their fledglings until they can look after themselves. You have no sire to do this, _and_ how do you expect to look after someone else at the same time?" The Cleaner stopped and gave him a hard stare.

Mick approached, "Look, I've already told you. We're handling it. You just said you wanted to come here and talk to him."

"You think a week stuffed away while you teach them parlor tricks is going to prepare them for an eternity of self-control?" She snapped. "Not to mention the fact that they are both pretty public figures in their town. We have no guarantee our secret will be safe."

Shawn saw this wasn't heading anywhere pleasant. "Dude, you don't know us. What makes you think you can just come in here and pass judgment? You know what happens when you assume right?"

"I'm not assuming anything. It's my duty to make sure that you don't screw up and expose our existence. Do you even realize what would happen?"

Shawn had an idea what would happen. He knew all about how people reacted to things they were afraid of. Prejudice and violence. He'd also seen X-Men enough times to get the gist of what would happen if they were ever found out.

The Cleaner didn't even wait for his answer before continuing. "The incident with your sire was bad enough to contain."

Giving The Cleaner a disgusted look, Shawn growled, "I'm not _him. _I will never be _him._"

The Cleaner pursed her lips, remembering Aaron's last coherent words before he was reduced to ash by a flame thrower.

_Aaron laughed hysterically. Not the usual sobbing or quiet acceptance that usually accompanied an execution. His head and arms were chained with silver and the action of him laughing caused them to rattle almost musically. The chains never ended up melting when rogues were executed with fire. They never got hot enough. A vampire just needed to be touched by flame and wherever it hit turned instantly to ash._

_ Between Aaron's manic cackles the insane vampire kept repeating the same thing over and over. "I'm not done! They'll continue my line! Shawn already has! Ha ha ha! I told him he'd be strong!"_

The Cleaner looked into Shawn's eyes as he made his promise that he wouldn't be like Aaron. She was a good judge of character. She had to be in her line of work. The intensity and quiet intelligence she saw was almost enough to convince her he would be fine, but she had to be sure he wouldn't screw up. "Fine, because I owe you and Mick for bringing Aaron in, I'll do you this one favor. _But_…" She got right in Shawn's face. "If you do anything to expose us, I'll kill you myself, after I kill your fledgling right in front of you." Turning around, The Cleaner gave Mick a small nod before walking out the office door.

"Shawn…" Mick started but Shawn didn't want to hear it.

Feeling incredibly betrayed, the psychic stormed out the door and back down to the apartment where he, Carlton and Morgan were staying. He made sure to take the stairs to avoid any more interaction with The Cleaner. _No one_ threatens his friends, and he didn't trust himself in a confined elevator space with her after that last comment.

He angrily pushed open the door from the stairs to the apartment and headed quickly to the freezer, slamming the door behind him, ignoring a concerned glance from Morgan.

Shawn did his best to convince himself that he wasn't acting like a ten year old girl having a temper tantrum as he pulled his pillow over his head and screamed into it in frustration. It seemed nothing he did was good enough, and now Carlton may be the one to pay for any mistakes he made. For the first time since he turned the detective, Shawn regretted it. _It would have been more painless to have just let him die on that warehouse floor._ He thought miserably, not really meaning it.

Shawn sniffed and could tell Morgan was on the other side of the door, and the sound of his feet moving told Shawn that he was pacing. Probably trying to figure out if he should come in. Shaking his head he growled into the pillow. He didn't want to make any conjectures right now, super senses or not. He just wanted to be left alone. Luckily for him, Morgan decided against bugging him and eventually walked away, leaving him to his sulking.

* * *

A half hour later, Shawn heard a knock at the door. "What?!" He yelled at the unwanted interrupter, thinking it may be Morgan coming to talk after all. Mick walked in carrying a bag of blood. "What are you doing here?" Shawn demanded.

"Morgan told me where to find you."

"Snitch." Shawn clutched the pillow to himself protectively. "I can't believe you just led me in there and let her threaten me and Lassie. I trusted you man! I feel like Han Solo when Lando turned him over to Vader... Which oddly fits because of her uniform." Shawn added as a side note before scowling at Mick. "I knew coming here was a mistake."

"Damn it Shawn, I'm trying to help you! Would you rather I just send you out into the world and say 'good luck' hope you don't end up murdering someone?" Mick couldn't believe how stubborn Shawn was being.

Shawn snorted in sarcastic amusement. "You sound like my dad."

Mick smiled wryly. "Your dad tells you not to murder people? I might just have to call The Cleaner back and tell her I've changed my mind about you being safe to go home."

"Heh." Shawn couldn't help but smile at Mick's dry humor. After a moment he sighed. "It really isn't you dude. I just don't know what I'm going to do about Lassie. What if he gets into trouble? I don't want him to get killed because I am a horrible sire or whatever. Plus, you know him enough that he won't listen to me anyway if something did happen."

Mick knew of a way to solve that problem. "Shawn, there's something you can do. It isn't pleasant for the recipient but it works on fledglings and some weaker vampires. It's kind of a dominance thing."

Shawn nodded. "Whatever you think will help then. Lay it on me."

Closing his eyes and concentrating Mick's face changed and he let out a screech. Not a normal angry screech, it was lower and something about it caused Shawn to flinch away. Mick's face returned to normal quickly. "It isn't pleasant, but it works."

After he shook off the experience, Shawn took a deep breath. "I can see that."

Mick put his hand on Shawn's shoulder. "Listen Shawn. If you ever need any advice, any time, call me and I'll help." He handed Shawn the blood and walked out of the freezer.

"Thanks man." Shawn called after him. Shawn sighed and leaned back. It was just starting to be morning and the other guys would be filing in to go to sleep soon. He was dog tired himself. The stress was a lot for him to deal with. Having someone else's life in his hands was a scary thing. _Probably scarier for Lassie if he ever found out._ Shawn chuckled to himself. Being responsible for another person was scary to him. It was one of the reasons he'd never really thought about having kids, not that he had to worry about that anymore anyway.

Sure enough, Morgan and Carlton trudged into the freezer looking worn out and haggard. Carlton went instantly to bed, but Morgan cast Shawn a concerned glance. Shawn flashed him a small smile, letting him know he was okay. All three men went to sleep without a word to each other, but each thinking the same thing. "One more day."

* * *

"Keep in touch man."

"You too! And if you need anything give me a call. Here's my number."

Before heading their separate ways, Shawn and Morgan made sure to exchange contact information just in case they ever needed to talk. Morgan had asked Carlton if he wanted his number and the innocent look on Morgan's features was the only thing that stopped him from saying that he'd rather step on a jellyfish. Reluctantly, the detective took out his phone and programmed in the number, as well as giving out his own. Fully expecting never to call or be called by the young man.

"Okay guys, you got everything?" Josef checked. "I've had enough of a bunch of dudes hanging out at my house and don't feel like having to run a bunch of toothbrushes all the way back to you."

The guys were all packed and ready to head home. Morgan only had about a twenty minute drive and Chuck was picking him up, while Shawn and Carlton were being driven the two hours back to Santa Barbara by Mick.

"Shawn," Josef walked over to him and handed him a card. It had a plain number on it. "Our mutual acquaintance left this for you in case you ever changed your mind." Shawn knew he meant Pierre Despereaux.

Shawn doubted that he would ever change his mind, but a phone number would be a lot better communication that posting on the thief's Face Book page. "Thanks." He smacked Josef on the back. "Catch you later dude."

After all goodbyes were said, Shawn, Carlton and Mick were on the road. Mick imparted a few more gems of wisdom along the way and invited them to go midnight golfing sometime which Shawn said he would definitely take him up on. Soon though, around late evening, they were back home in Santa Barbara.

Shawn was the first to be dropped off. Mick lectured him one last time before he got out of the Mercedes. "I recommend taking another couple of days off, to get used to being on your own. Don't forget to drink blood, and you know to call if there are any problems."

Noticing the eye roll from Carlton, Shawn knew that the detective wasn't going to take any more time off work, but Mick didn't need to know that. "Yep, will do! Catch you later Mick, see you soon Lassie." The farewell merited a grunt from the detective.

He watched the tail lights disappear down the road before calling Gus. "Hello, Burton Guster."

"Buddy! I'm back in town!" Shawn exclaimed.

"Shawn! You said you would call me from the road!"

_Oops, _Shawn had promised he would call. "Sorry, I forgot."

"Whatever Shawn, I just wanted to tell you welcome back and to be at psych at 10am tomorrow. We have a new client."

"You don't waste time do you buddy?"

"We have bills to pay Shawn." Gus chastised.

Shawn reached his apartment and opened it, noticing that Gus had kept his promise to water his plants. "Ok I got it. I'm going to call Jules before I sack out. I need to get my sleep schedule back to normal after all nights."

"Don't forget! 10am sharp..." Shawn hung up before he got any more lecturing. Lord knows he'd had enough to last a few lifetimes. He dialed Juliet's number next. Really needing to hear her voice.

"Shawn! Are you back already?" Juliet was really glad her boyfriend had decided to call her.

The psychic was so happy to hear Juliet's voice, he almost forgot to say anything. "Oh, yeah I'm back... I just wanted to call you. Ya know, to see if you were ok. How's your wrist?"

"Sore but the brace is helping."

"That's great..." Shawn trailed off, trying to figure out what to talk about. What he wanted to say couldn't really be said over the phone. "Well, I guess I'll see you tomorrow."

Juliet huffed out a breath. "Yeah, see you tomorrow. Then we'll talk ok?"

"Deal sweetie." He loved being able to call her that.

"Goodnight Shawn."

"Goodnight Jules." Shawn hit end on his I-phone and set it on the dresser next to his personal freezer. The freezer wasn't all that big, but Mick had said the only thing he'd be doing in there is sleeping so it didn't have to be huge.

Stripping to his boxers, he slid in and closed the lid carefully. He had one last thought about how worried about Carlton he was and how much he missed Jules. "Things will be better tomorrow." He mumbled before falling quickly to sleep.

* * *

**END NOTES: It may take me a couple weeks to get the official Third in the series, "Love Lasts Forever, but Sanity has a Shelf Life" typed up but believe me the wait will be worth it. I am planning it to be a very dark story, which I am sure you will all enjoy.**

**Hope you liked the glimpses of training in the story and thank you guys so much for reading and reviewing!**


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